A number of devices are known in the art for bagging and/or shredding lawn debris. Some of the patents are listed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,081 (1973) to Miller discloses a plastic leaf collection bag which is temporarily secured to the ground by its extended vertical opening frame to allow for sweeping leaves into the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,182 (1976) to Stearley discloses a vented bag which comprises a front wall, a back wall, and opposite end walls forming an enclosed container. Venting allows air to escape from the interior outwardly through the vent perforations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,414 (1976) to Kerr et al. discloses a removable plastic trash bag which is hung from a frame attached to a lawn mower. The bag is vented to allow the air to escape.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,095 (1985) to Short, Sr. discloses a hoop adapter assembly to be attached to the exit opening of the discharge duct of a lawnmower. It will fit a disposable trash bag for picking up leaves.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,257 (1986) to Akrabawi discloses a plate like apparatus with an opening sized to fit the discharge chute of a mower. It propels clippings from the cutting area through a discharge chute and allows the clippings in a horizontally disposable trash bag. The plate has a vent hole to allow the air to escape.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,274 (1990) to Mitchell discloses a combination holder for maintaining the mouth of a plastic garbage or leaf bag in an open position for later disposal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,103 (1991) to Hayes et al. discloses a collapsible frame which supports a leaf bag in a position that a portion of the bag rest horizontally on the ground and the remainder of the bag is attached to the frame to present an arch shaped opening for the collection of debris.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,809 (1993) to Redding discloses a disposable bag apparatus that acts as an accessory to a lawn mower. As the bag fills with lawn debris air is expelled from the vents in the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,022 (1993) to Palumbo discloses a portable, multi-compartment garden debris bag holder. It has a plurality of adjacent members interconnecting and is defined by a central opening which allows for debris collection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,842 (1999) to Fan discloses a wide opening bagger apparatus which has a platform to receive and lead the objects such as leaves into the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,522 (2000) to Anderson discloses a yard debris collecting system which uses a chute for putting debris into a bag. It includes a pivotable frame, a chute couplable to the frame, a collection bag couplable to the frame such that the chute extends into and opens into the open bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,212 (2001) to Monahan discloses a support device for holding a lawn debris bag open. The device holds the length of a bag open on one side which allows for raking and filling the leaf bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 2003/0173471 (2003) to Weathers et al. discloses a chute apparatus for collecting leaves. It has an upper chute portion with on open front portion that is wider then the rear end of the chute. There are two smaller matching chute sides attached at either side of the back chute portion.
Many of the above listed devices still require the user to rake the debris into a pile before bagging. Many of the known mulchers require the user to pick up the debris and drop them into the mulcher. Even if the user uses a prior art leaf blower to move the debris, it is often difficult to use the leaf blower to get the debris into a nice pile for bagging and/or shredding. Blowing the debris into a bag is often difficult, because the air column will blow the debris back out of the bag, even if the bag is held open on its side. None of the prior art mulchers are designed to be used with a leaf blower. The present invention solves these problems by providing a chute to direct to debris toward a vented bag, allowing the air column to escape the bag. In an alternate embodiment, a lawn debris mulcher is placed at the base of chute before the vented bag to shred (mulch) the debris and bag them in one operation.